Planned Parenthood Prez Defends $400K Salary, Taxpayer Funding

A conservative reporter caught up with Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood, and asked her about her $400,000 annual salary and the federal funding the nation’s biggest abortion business receives from the federal government.

The Daily Caller asked Richards to respond to those who say it’s not fair that Richards gets such a big salary while her non-profit group accepts more than $360 million annually in federal taxpayer funds.

“None of my salary is paid for by the federal government and Planned Parenthood is reimbursed for health care services and, quite frankly, we provide more health care for lower cost than any women’s health care provider in the country,” Richards claimed.

The Willamette Week newspaper asked her, “In the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, a lot was made of your salary—close to $400,000 per year. Planned Parenthood declined to comment on it. Why?”

“It’s public record. It always has been,” Richards responded. “I work hard for my salary, and I think that’s a red herring. Planned Parenthood is the most cost-effective provider of family planning services in this country. The far right has done everything they can to undermine us and to create non-issues, which I think that is.”

The high salary is not surprising given that the abortion business makes more than $1 billion in income. First achieved in its 2006-2007 fiscal year, the abortion business now regularly brings in more than $1 billion. That’s because the abortion business, that year, was doing more abortions than ever before. Its annual report showed an increase in the number of provided abortions from 264,943 in 2005 to 289,650 in 2006.

More recent figures show, in 2009 alone, Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions. Since the average cost of an abortion was $468, Planned Parenthood’s total abortion income that year was $155 million. In light of their total “health center” income of $404,900,000, Planned Parenthood made out like bandits with abortion, which generated 38.4% of this total revenue.